Louis C.K. said he’s “remorseful” for the actions of sexual misconduct that five women accused him of in a New York Times article earlier this week.
The accusers’ accounts, which date to the late ’90s, “are true,” the comedian admitted in a statement released Friday.
“I have been remorseful of my actions. And I’ve tried to learn from them. And run from them,” the statement reads. “There is nothing about this that I forgive myself for. And I have to reconcile it with who I am. Which is nothing compared to the task I left them with.”
His statement came after two of his projects got the boot one day after the comedian became the latest Hollywood celebrity to be accused of sexual misconduct.
The release of C.K.’s film “I Love You, Daddy” was pulled Friday, and the film’s distributor, Orchard Films, released a statement saying the company will “not be moving forward” with the release. The New York premiere of the film was canceled Thursday in anticipation of the bombshell New York Times article that details the comedian’s alleged sexual misconduct.
Netflix also scrapped plans to release a special it created with the 50-year-old comedian after the Times article was released. Television network FX, a unit of 21st Century Fox, severed its ties with him as well.
“He will no longer serve as executive producer or receive compensation on any of the four shows we were producing with him – ‘Better Things,’ ‘Baskets,’ ‘One Mississippi’ and ‘The Cops’,” FX Networks and FX productions said on Friday in an emailed statement.
Universal Pictures, a unit of Comcast, and the production company Illumination officially terminated their relationship with C.K. on Friday, too, issuing a joint statement that announced his removal from “The Secret Life of Pets 2.”
C.K. was the voice of the lead character, a Jack Russell terrier named Max, in the original animated film, which according to Hollywood trade paper Variety grossed $875 million. Variety said the sequel was due to open in June 2019.
C.K. said he had “spent my long and lucky career talking and saying anything I want. I will now step back and take a long time to listen.” He did not make clear how long he would be stepping back for.
In the Times article, comedians Dana Min Goodman and Julia Wolov recalled how Louis C.K., whose real name is Louis Székely, exposed himself in an Aspen, Colorado, hotel room in 2002 and began masturbating. A year later, Abby Schachner, a writer, said she could hear the comedian masturbate while she was on the phone with him.
Actress Rebecca Corry detailed an incident from 2005, during the filming of a TV pilot, when he asked if he could masturbate in front of her. A fifth woman, who was unidentified in the article, also claimed he made the same request in the late ’90s.
The news is the latest of numerous allegations of sexual harassment and assault against prominent Hollywood men, including actor Kevin Spacey and producer Brett Ratner, that have emerged in the wake of New York Times and New Yorker articles about film producer Harvey Weinstein. He stands accused by dozens of women, including actresses Kate Beckinsale and Gwyneth Paltrow.
With Reuters
